Raised in the final years of the Soviet sports system by parents who were already accomplished athletes, Ovechkin was given every chance to succeed and, along the way, showed he didn’t need special treatment.

Born Sept. 17, 1985, and coming of age just as the Soviet Union was giving way to a new Russia, Alex Ovechkin was drawn to hockey through his father.

Alex Ovechkin almost stopped playing hockey. His mother, Tatyana, was a basketball player, his father, Mikhail, was a soccer player and they were traveling with their teams, leaving no one to take